A youth, along with two of his friends, has been arrested for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl, filming the act with a cellphone camera and circulating the clip.

The three, residents of Malipanchghara in Howrah, have been booked under sections 328 (drugging), 376 (rape) and 354 (stripping) of the IPC.

The youths — Chiranjit Santra, 23, Sanjay Khara, 24, and Mithun Mullick, 23 — were produced before the chief judicial magistrate’s court, Howrah, on Sunday, and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.

The girl made a statement before the judicial magistrate under section 164 on Sunday. The court sent her for a medical test.

Hari Kishore Kusumakar, the superintendent of Howrah police, said: “The three youths were picked up from their homes after the victim’s mother lodged a complaint with Malipanchghara police station on Saturday evening.”

“Sanjay and Mithun introduced me to Chiranjit at a marriage reception on August 15 this year. I had been meeting him often since then,” said the girl.

Chiranjit called her to his flat in mid-December, promising a “surprise”. Since the girl did not know the flat, Sanjay took her there.

“Chiranjit and Mithun were waiting for us in the flat. I had expected to meet Chiranjit’s mother and other family members but they were not home,” said the girl.

According to the complaint, Chiranjit offered her a spiked glass of water. With the help of Sanjay and Mithun, he then took off her clothes and raped her with the cellphone camera on.

The girl’s mother said Chiranjit had threatened her daughter with dire consequences if she told her family members of the rape.

The girl’s family members said she had not immediately lodged a complaint of rape to avoid stigma. They approached the cops after Chiranjit started distributing the clip in the locality.

The girl’s elder brother said: “On Friday one of my friends said someone had sent him an MMS of my sister being raped by Chiranjit. In a last attempt to avoid a scandal, I requested Chiranjit to marry her but he refused to do so. Only then did we decide to lodge a complaint against the three.”